Kahfi's Guide to Pre-Crawling

hi and salam. i'm kahfi khairul and i'll be your coach today. as you all know, i've successfully rolled over. i could've done it sooner, but when you're an expert like i am, you don't need to rush into things.

i'm here to coach you on one of the most important phases in our life; learning how to crawl. but before we start to crawl, we need to prepare ourselves with the correct stance. i'm here to teach you the right steps!

pre-crawling is no easy task. it involves an intricate mechanism and outstanding motor skill to execute an excellent pre-crawl. that's where i come in. ekhem.

this fun (but serious) guide to pre-crawling is dedicated to fellow future crawlers - sis zara and caitlyn, cousin wafa, baby hannah and net, fellow just10 jrs munirah and pe'ah.

are you all ready? mommies, step aside, please. babies, take your pacifier out and let's begin.


1. puting your arms out is easy. just pretend you're reaching for daddy's expensive handphone or the remote control.

2. the parachute mode is a hoot! just make sure your arms don't touch the floor and you're good to go! a good balance is important for this task. this mode is basically to get you ready for the next step.


3. just pretend you're a lion in its prime, or a walrus waiting to be fed - you'll eventually get this effect. sigh. i love pretend game. (zara, nanti kita pretend kawen-kawen lah, eh? *wink*)

4. now this is the hard part. just focus all your strength in your bum-bum and you'll do fine. the force must be in your bum-bums! few good shrill shouts and screams of triumph are an excellent mix too while you're doing this.

got all that?


now that you know the steps to pre-crawl, have fun pursuing one step closer to the actual crawling! of eating weird stuff off the floor, breaking things, chasing cockroaches and hiding from mommy under the table!

and don't push yourself too hard. if mommy or daddy give you a hard time being too ambitious of keeping up with the joneses; boys - just *shoot* while they're changing your diaper! girls, temper tantrum is the word! - you know what weapons work!

good luck and may the force be with you (and your bums)!

Festival @ The Dubai Mall

dubai mall is the largest mall in the world.

we went there on its opening day, back in november last year. the parking lot looked like an abandoned construction site, and the inside was like a huge deserted shopping space with empty shops barred with wooden planks that says "opening soon".

the best part of the almost-boring opening day was that i found a classy cafe called 'shakespeare & co'. i absolutely love the concept, the decor and the overall feel of the cafe. however, the food was just okay - memang sedap but they could've done way better considering the price and the already awesome setting.

go if you're a hopeless romantic like me! read about my review here.


going there again yesterday (yes, it's only been my second time - as our frequent malls are mall of emirates and ibn battuta mall - which are both closer to dubai marina) the crowd itself speaks volume of the huge number of stores, restaurants and cafes already open and flourishing. it's definitely different than the first day it opened.

the mall's dubai aquarium, has the 'largest arcrylic panel' - imagine an aquarium glass bigger and wider than the wall of your house - it's amazing to watch different sea creatures in an aquarium that big. there were even divers feeding the fish! we didn't take any pictures as we're kinda turned off by the heavy crowd. it's impossible to take a picture without having someone's head in it!

yesterday was the final day of the 'festival @ the dubai mall' which is basically the mall hosting a 'shopping sale' and some other entertainment gigs and activities for shoppers. one of the entertainer is perfoming LIVE at caffe nero.


at one glance, caffe nero is not a creative, attractive lepak place to me - as it looks like any other abc or xyz cafe yang berlambak kat dubai mall ni but we lepak here because we wanna catch this jazz-pop act, jonas desai acoustically perform here that night.

this italian-style coffee house is said to have the 'best espresso' ever, placed in any coffee-based-drink - yeah, great. best espresso? way to go to win me over, the coffee-hater.

and they have the usual sandwiches in variety of breads - paninis and focaccia (which i'm not a fan of - i prefer croissant any day). also like in starbucks, san francisco coffee and any other coffee house - a selection of muffins and cakes.

the song selection is quite awesome, though. jazz and latin beats croon you as you hang back in those soft brown leather couch, watching the crowd goes by. especially so since it's strategically located right next to the dubai ice-rink.

so for those who wannna hang back in a quiet cafe and get away from the crowd might not like this particular location...


we got a fusion of pineapple + apple + banana ice-blended and a slice of carrot cake. while i'm not too crazy about the ice-blended, the carrot cake was delicious!

i like carrot cake, but most of the carrot cakes that i tried have this heavy cinnamon taste that is a turn-off. but this one has a nice blend of taste - oh, so moist, carrot-y, a pinch of cinnamon and not too heavy on the cheese. just perfect!

* * *

hmm. we've got 2 more hours before jonas desai comes on. kahfi can get very cranky and khaleef would get doubly restless. and i can easily be both cranky and restless. things could get ugly! so much to mr. khairul's disappointment, we finished out drinks and munched our last bit of carrot cake and left. some other day, jonas desai!

btw, i noticed a really funky, purply makan place in dubai mall called 'switch' which at first glance i thought spelled 'witch' - aptly so because of its darkly, gloomy, wizardy interior. cool! probably trying this one next!

Weekend Award

saya terima 'anugerah' ini dari rakan lama serumah dewan malaysia melbourne di st. kilda dulu. terima kasih, kak arin!


1. salin lencana "Blogger Friendship Award" di atas untuk diletakkan di blog anda.
selesai.

2. ceritakan kembali siapa yang memberikan award ini kepada anda.
seperti yang dinyatakan di atas, kak arin merupakan rakan serumah dewan malaysia melbourne. seorang yang kelakar dan periang, saya amat senang berkawan dengannya. dia juga mempunyai dua anak perempuan yang amat comel, hanum dan zara. siapa tahu mungkin kami bisa berbesan kelak!

3. setiap blogger mesti menyatakan 10 fakta/hobi diri sendiri sebelum memilih penerima anugerah seterusnya.

1. saya tak suka kopi lansung
2. saya tidak boleh berbahasa tamil
3. saya tidak pernah berjumpa dengan naib presiden uae
   
4. saya belum pernah memandu kereta di dubai
   
5. saya punya 2 anak lelaki, khaleef dan kahfi, dan seekor lipas plastik bernama samad
   
6. saya telah lama tidak menonton filem p. ramlee
   
7. saya amat suka makan pisang, goreng pisang, cekodok pisang, lepat pisang, kek pisang, lempeng pisang dan berbagai-bagai lagi hidangan pisang
   
8. saya amat mengidamkan mesin pembuat roti (perhatian : encik khairul)
   
9. saya telah membuat sambal belacan pertama saya dengan jayanya pada hari khamis yang lalu
10. saya tidak sabar untuk kembali ke tanahair julai ini!
    

4. kini anda perlu memilih 6 penerima award seterusnya dan menyatakan nama mereka di blog anda.

1. syida
2. azi
3. anneeza
4. syu
5. nekPP
6. kak saniah

Bait Al-Mandi @ Muraqqabat Road

we, mr. khairul and i, are self-confessed mandi addict.

mr. khairul in his travels to mid east countries, including a recent business visit to jordan - he still looks for the best mandi rice and would promptly relate to me his experience - the taste, the rice, the chicken, the ambiance - he knows i'm never tired of hearing about mandi rice in other countries!

our usual weekend mandi haunt is al-tawasol, but one weekend, we wanted to try mandi at a different place. read about our yummy visits to al-tawasol here.

bait al-mandi at muraqqabat road.

it was a hot, hot day!

we've tried this mandi rice before at my friend fauziah's house during her son's birthday party. they told us the location and only now we're tryin out the place.

there's a parking lot just beside the building where the restaurant is, just like al-tawasol, so that's a plus point. upon reaching the restaurant, i can see tables outside which is probably a nice spot to eat mandi rice during winter. cool weather and hot juicy mandi chicken. yum!

however it's freaking hot right now so eating out is a no-no. upon entering the premise, i didn't feel the personalized welcome that i enjoy in al-tawasol. it has typical, boring tables and chairs as opposed to the very mid-east feel in al-tawasol with the carpet terbentang and ali baba pillows as seats.

i was starting to get disppointed when we were ushered upstairs. oh, there's a second floor! - it says 'family area'. most restaurants in dubai is big on family, and provide family area if possible. at al-tawasol, you have to go to the back of the restaurant for the family area. at bait al-mandi, you go up!

what's upstairs?

to my surprise, the stairs took us up to a much nicer ambiance. there were clearly rooms, well, more like cubicles since there were partitions instead of actual walls. there's wall to wall carpeting up here unlike downstairs.

the most catchy sight about the 'room' is the cowboy swing door! fascinating at first, but realized it's quite deadly! when a person pushes it open and lets go, it swings really really hard that somebody could be seriously hurt if they happened to stand close by! so when you bring your kids - watch out!

the 'rooms', like i said, has only partitions so it can get rather noisy with all the sounds coming from above. in this sense i really prefer al-tawasol's 'tents' which are all closed up, providing much more privacy.

notice khaleef enjoying a good nap!

the food arrived and yes, yummy as a plate of mandi rice should be! mr. khairul said the rice is a bit kering but to me ok aje! nontheless that is the only difference i noted in taste - the rice, it is slightly more dry than the rice in al-tawasol. other than that - chicken, lamb - equally delicious.

also, bait al-mandi gave out free yoghurt to go with the mandi rice, the chilli was served in super-generous portion but the cucumber is thin-sliced rather than sliced into half at al-tawasol.

yummy mandi rice!

all in all, the mandi rice at bait al-mandi is equally tasty but i still prefer al-tawasol as it scored brownie points for ambiance and comfort. but you can try it out for yourself - it's literally around the corner from al-tawasol, right along muraqqabat road. the signage is huge and bold red - you won't miss it.

selamat menjamu selera!

The Ks' Craze : Xbox 360

mr. khairul got an xbox 360. great. as if there aren't enough distraction for khaleef already. it comes with two free xbox games; kungfu panda and indiana jones : lego version. mr. khairul also got the highly acclaimed game, prince of persia.

i remember playing prince of persia when it's still in floppy disc version! the theme song was tacky, and the monochromatic colors don't help the 2-dimentional characters presented in boxy graphic. whenever our characters die, there's this deathly soundtrack along with a clip of the disappointed (boxy pixeled) princess trapped in the dungeon.

prince of persia : the classic sempoi 1989 game, and the new sleek and sexy 2009 version

this latest xbox version of prince of persia has certainly go a long way. it's absolutely nothing like what i remembered it. the music is haunting, the graphic is sleek, the characters are freakin hot and sexy! the characters has personality, they speak and they're charming and funny!


anyway, khaleef absolutely loves the kungfu panda game. and he's really really good! a fast learner, risk-taker - he helps po takes in the villains with ease! even i can't figure out how po makes a high jump with double somersault, or how sifu kicks high in the air or that you need to close the roof doors in order to proceed to the next level - khaleef knows how, when and exactly what!

boys!

he now enjoys pirates of the caribbean. he would pass the controller to me when it comes to 'instruction-base' level like, 'find jack sparrow's wanted poster and tear them off the wall' or 'find davy jones to proceed to the next level' - but when it comes to the fight scenes, khaleef wins 'em all!


however, in spite of all the bravado stunts khaleef can do on the game, once the character dies - kena tumbuk bertubi-tubi ke, jatuh gaung ke, kena tikam ke - he will cry! and it's tears of sadness, that because of him, the characters had to endure the pain and suffering he's now witnessing on screen!

"mak...............panda......matiiiii......." (you can also substitute 'panda' with 'jack sparrow')

my reply? "don't cry. if not, mak switch off." period.

* * *

i'm not much of a fan of video games, computer games or the works. and when i do play, it's simple games exercising the thumbs than testing the speed of your reflexes. malas!

mr. khairul, like any other big boys, love these games. especially where he can play the tough guy running military operation and shooting down helicopters. and yes, he speaks to himself when he plays. "roger that!" what is it about men and video games?

there's this one particular game of his that really irritates me - some sort of a role play game where you 'become' the football team manager - choosing the best player for your team, strategising tactics and fully utilizing each player's strength to get a score. it's all timetables and lists and scores and little stickmen..

suka bola main je la bola!

* * *

however i'm glad to see that, despite the xbox being his latest craze, it's not an addiction to khaleef. he is still able to switch off and put down the controller to go back to his books, and enjoying reading just as much. or his green soldiers. or his ben10 collector cards. he still wants to watch handy manny and thomas.

..and with all the electronic gadgets and plastic battery-operated toys he has, even my hand-made paper aeroplane and paper boat can still excite him!

Wanna Follow Me on Twitter?

what is twitter?

unlike facebook with all the status updates, wall messagings, photo comments, applications, poke or hug people and sending nasi lemak or choc fudge - when you twitter, you 'communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question' -

"what are you doing?"



unlike in facebook where people we 'add' becomes our 'facebook friends', in twitter, we 'follow' one another. ok, this is in no way a cult or an underground movement. clear on that? by 'following' simply means we wanna follow the latest happenings on someone's life. so on one upper side column there are :

'following' - people whose updates i wanna know
'followers' - people who wanna know my updates
and 'updates' - well, goes without saying, this is exactly like the status updates on facebook

* * *

i heard about this 'twitter' thingy before but had no clue what it was. so when i first started 'twittering' after an invitation by put the lawyer, i was like, "this is IT? status update je? baik guna facebook, status updates and more! and if you wanna quick exchange, chat kat ym je lah!"

but hey, it's fun to have another feather in the networking cap.

it seemed twitter is more suitable for those on the go, with wifi luxury at the palm of their hands even as they drive or in the toilet! (honey you should get in on this twitter thing with your omnia!) they can just twitter thru their handphones with a quick status update!


wanna join in the fun? click here --->

..and then you can follow me...

and after that you can take it a step further by placing twitter on your own desktop so that you can catch the lates updates of your friends and family right there and then without having to go to the webpage. get it here.

erm, if you ask me, current fulltime housewife mom with all the time in the world? gimme facebook anytime, anyday. i'll leave the twittering to mr. khairul...

Takin it Ez @ Bob's Easy Diner

after a cool dip in the salty waters of the sea, a hot meal is always welcome! a good walk from the jumeirah beach and you'd be in 'the marina walk' where cafes and restaurants - from fast food to semi-fine dining - lined the ground floor of the jumeirah beach residence.

our choice is usually hardee's or the pizza company but one fine weekend evening we decided to try someplace new - so off we went to 'bob's easy diner'.


as described in its official website, a step into bob's easy diner is a step into the classic feel of a 50's diner, ya know like in those citer omputeh where the characters go on a cheesy date, the guy with his shirt buttoned up to the top and hair all greasy, and the girl in flair knee length skirt - gettin' a plain 'ol cheeseburger with fries on the side and a big glass of milkshake with two straws. sweet!

i must say even the black and white wallpaper gives it the 50's feel. love it!

"for all you nostalgic diners out there, here is a time machine to take you back to the good old days! back to the neon lights..and the fabulous 50's!

bob's easy diner is a fun 50's-style diner...with a light-hearted sit-at-the-counter kind of meal."

~ from the official website. click here for more on this funky diner!

the decor says it all. rockin' rollin' time! i can almost imagine archie, betty, jughead, veronica and reggie hangin out here after school. the funky lamps, the red leather seats, the metal tables - i love the feel of going back in time, or perhaps i'm just a sucker for themed restaurants!

yellow gas pump to cool sangat!

on the wall you can read funny, catchy phrases up to the ceiling, plus on metal plates hung all over some parts of the walls.

"eat here. diet at home."

"ain't no finer diner."

"if it doesn't make you proud, don't serve it to the crowd"

at least you've got something to read while waiting for your order to come!

speaking of order, the dish on the menu is similar to chili's or tgif - content as well as price-wise. buffalo wings, steaks, burgers and such - nothing so wow. we were just tryin out the food so we picked what we're familiar with - for me, a cheeseburger with fries and coleslaw on the side, and for mr. khairul, the bbq chicken wings.

classic meal, for a classic time at this funky diner!


the meals were really simple - wadaya expect - it's an easy diner! but a cheeseburger is a cheeseburger and i am a big fan. in fact i prefer this one over a cheeseburger meal at tgif or chilli's coz here it's served with coleslaw - and everyone knows i'm cwazee over coleslaw too!

it's pricey for a simple meal, but once in a while, when you feel like stepping into days when having sideburns is cool and elvis is still king - go to bob's easy diner!

Soaking in the Summer Sun

the summer is upon us dwellers of the arab land. it did hit about 54 degrees one afternoon, but today it was just as warm as a typical malaysian noon. the weather was great.

so, it is time to embrace the brilliant blue and the golden orange! the sea and the sun!

kahfi getting cozy in the shade on the picnic mat

first, we set up camp. spread the picnic mat, settle down the picnic bag, lay down the yummies and open up the umbrella. we're all set! i packed some leftovers - morning bihun goreng, last night's domino's pizza and brownies i baked yesterday. after a cool swim, anything's good to eat.

kahfi seemed comfortable rolling in the shade, fascinated by the bananas. he didn't mengamuk at all. true blue beach boy!

the beach was teeming with people - not packed, yet festive. not too crowded, not too deserted. there was a nice comfort zone between picnic mats and lied-down towels and we were loving the company and privacy all at once.

anak bapak fun-under-the-sun time

to me, being at the beach is like a holiday getaway - a place you go to after hours of driving, with a hotel-stay and moments to really cherish, rare as they were. so you can see how wonderful it is for me now to be living just a walk from the beach! macam tak percaya! we can go to the beach at a moment's notice!

however, being a penang boy, born and bred, beach action is nothing seldom to mr. khairul. he loves the beach, no question coz it's all in a day's life to him!

ouch! pasir masuk mata!

khaleef, as usual goes crazy over water - aquariums, pools, fountains, rivers, beaches - even a full bath-tub! so he had a blast!

and of course, a must-do activity - main pasir! he's not even making anything. no sandcastle. not even a sand bump. he's just, plain and simple - playing with the grain of sand.


the sea-water was a fusion of gorgeous green and translucent blue. beautiful! and most importantly, it's clean! also, after being baked out under the summer sun, it's so soothing to dip your feet in the cool, cool water.

with khaleef strapped around his neck, mr. khairul brought him far out into the sea. careful, boys!

lovely shells lined the shores, bringing back memories of holidays in lumut and pangkor with abah, mak and my sisters - picking up sea-shells was a must!


kahfi had a ball of a time at the beach! can't wait for little patter of feet going off to chase the waves! (yeah right, when he starts running here and there, you'd wish he'd stay put!)

mr. khairul chillin out, with just a small part of the jumeirah beach residence in the background

jumeirah beach is opposite the imposing jumeirah beach residence. the ground floor of these apartment buildings is 'the walk', with restaurants, cafes and boutique.

in front of the stretch of 'the walk' is a huge parking lot overlooking the beach. however, cars can opt to drive through a narrow opening between bunting poles along the beach and drive straight to the beach, which was what we did - senang nak ambik and simpan barang and easier to change after a dip in the water.


we wanted to go off already but seeing that kahfi tak mengamuk, we decided to stay and enjoy the sunset along the arabian gulf.

quite a romantic affair for us both, *smile* and a fascinating view for khaleef, "sun is going down!" sigh! the beauty of Allah's creation!


the boys enjoyed a brotherly fun time while waiting for the sun to set. khaleef busy burying his legs while kahfi looked on, fascinated with the mechanism of dipping deep into the sand using a sea-shell, taking some sand and then dumping it onto legs. wow.

"i'm gonna try that out!" while kicking his feet excitedly against the sand.

once a while, khaleef would stop mid-way to explain to kahfi what he's doing. that's what brothers are for!


the sun.
the sea.
the fun.
the glee.
me.
my family.

no place i'd rather be!

Knowing Ur an Inkheart in the Twilight

syigim hits the movies again! this time with the drama-mystery 'knowing', fantasy adventure tale of 'inkheart' and teen-horror, 'twilight'.

* * *

i like nicolas cage. i think he's one of those rare actors who will choose a good movie to act in. hey, if it stars nicolas cage, it must be pretty decent! (tom hanks, johnny depp, robin williams fall in this category). this one was pretty okay. if you like aliens-themed movies.

the story starts when a girl wrote random numbers in random sequence and put it in a time capsule for the school. zoom 50 years later, the time capsule is unearthed and nicolas cage's son got hold of the paper with numbers - and nicolas cage's character discovered that the series of numbers are not random after all - but are dates of huge natural disasters and major accidents with number of people killed, happening in the last 50 years or so. the numbers even predict a future catastrophy...

uuUuuu. chilling.

until you get to the part with the aliens. you know what, after x-files, there are absolutely no cooler tv show or movies about alien anymore. not yet, at least. and when the dad says goodbye to his son going off on the spaceship - i can't help reminscing a scene from E.T. which made the supposedly touching scene looked over-done. sorry, nick.

if you really wanna watch a good movie about aliens, watch 'the abyss'. movie lama. excellent.

* * *

inkheart is my new favourite movie of all time.

do you love books? dream about the characters? and read so slow because you want to imagine how pi look like after those long days at the sea, or how lovely hermione granger really is or whether romeo montague is worth drinking poison for? than you gotta watch inkheart!

boasting the tagline 'every story ever written is just waiting to become real', the whole idea of the movie fascinates me. brendan fraser's character 'mo' is an inkheart - a person who is able to bring out characters from storybooks to real life. unfortunately, when he reads one character out, one from real life goes into the book! and his problem starts when he reads out a villain and sends his wife into the book instead!

bummer!

it's an adventure from then on. i really like brendan fraser too - he's one of those actors who are handsome, yet doesn't mind being really goofy, like brad pitt and johnny depp certainly can.

man, i used to look for pictures of cute actors and paste 'em in my books so that i can imagine them acting out the parts in the story book. sigh. if only i were an inkheart...

* * *

*yawn*

it's like being forced to endure a movie-length episode of buffy the vampire slayer slash dawson creek slash gossip girl. i don't understand why this movie is such a hit! but i guess it's the same reason why high school musical is such a biggie. even so, at least high skool musical is entertaining!

i can't even begin to describe the amount of scenes that are supremely lacking in intelligence, to put it rather mildly. sure, the main lead looks awesomely hot and beautiful but it doesn't help when they keep spewing bad lines. the script is tacky! corny! i really want to pick up the book to see whether it's really the author's fault or the movie people adapted it badly!

man, i guess this is how it feels like to hate harry potter movies. when you just don't get the hype, you just don't get the hype!

sigh. gimme 'interview with the vampire' anytime...

* * *

ok before twilight fans started shooting brickbats my side, i've gotten worse comments about MY favorite movie, 'shakespeare in love' okay! get over it. (maybe i haven't ha ha) anyway, i'm anxiously waiting for '17 again', 'monsters vs alien' and 'watchmen'. watch this space!

Dubai to Mumbai : So Long Kak Maherah!

away from friends and family, at a faraway land in the middle of the desert, it's good to know that you belong. other than the many new friends i made while i'm here in dubai, i'm glad to say that i also belong to this group of lovely ladies, the isteri-isteri perwakilan malaysia in dubai.


this is our little club, comprises of wives of the consul general, consuls, directors, vice-consuls and officers of malaysian agencies in dubai. fida, nita, adawiyah, kak nor, kak muna, kak nik, kak pah, kak nor, kak sarah, kak maherah, and kak mala - hope i didn't leave anyone out! - i'm certainly new, and still getting to know some of the members, having been absent from the morning meetings because of little kahfi! buzz me for correction, ok?

with kak maherah

at the time of writing i had just returned from the noodle house, madinat jumeirah. we held a farewell dinner for kak maherah, who is moving to mumbai by june. it's a loss, for i enjoy her company; a soft-spoken lady, sweet and demure. i remember together we 'stalked' pak lah during the dinner with malaysians in dubai and got our pictures together with pak lah, and then with datin jeanne.

good times!

fida's super cute cupcakes

fida brought her colourful cupcakes. it was delightfully sweet and spongy! thanks fida, for the appetizer! it was only the second time she tried decorating cupcakes, and i think she's doing well. there was a brief moment of 'cooking class' as fida explained the ingredients she used to make the icing on the cupcakes, then later described what she used to make her hotdog bun taste so soft. fida bukak cooking class lah!


noodle house is classy in its simplicity - cozy lightings which are not too bright, open kitchen where the chefs are visibly busy whipping up the dishes, dark wooden tables with long benches, and a nice layout of cutlery folded in a napkin.

when we first walked in and took our seats, we're surprised to hear a familiar voice singing over the speakers - our darling songbird siti nurhaliza, and my would've-been sister in law - ziana zain! (yah, i have a major crush on anuar zain) they had actually put on malay songs throughout our makan-makan session. telling this to mr. khairul later, he said maybe it's coz they know the malaysian consul general's wife is coming with her entourage...

kak sarah & kak mala looking over the menu - notice the funny pen!

the menu is basically a piece of paper with the list of food serve, with little boxes where you can tick your choices. it comes with a funny lookin pen - woohoo! check out the online menu here.

looking at the menu, they serve the typical dishes of a chinese restaurants in dubai - you've got the noodle dishes, the kung pow chicken, something something with cashew nuts, lemon chicken, bla bla bla - it's all the same. but the taste is what separates the good and the not so. and this one serves pretty decent food. notice that i didn't use the word great...

no matter - i finally found a really good char kuey teow here! at last!


after much discussions, we finally ordered plates of kuey teow (yay!), singapore meehon, some lauk-pauk - chicken, brinjal, fried calamari and crab cakes to be eaten with rice. the lauk-pauk and noodles were served in a plate 'yang macam topi', according to kak maherah.

verdict - the char kuey teow was heavenly. enough said. i've tried more than 5 places that were reported to have 'good' char kuey teow in dubai and they all disappoint except this one! the meehon was a tad bit salty and spicy. still tasted pretty nice but i'd rather have more kuey teow please! oh, and i love the goreng tepung fried calamari! nyum!

a good look at the yummies on our table!

despite the dishes lookin yummy, and with the price that we're paying, plus the interior that spells casual dining - the presentation of the dishes was - well, let's just say i'd expected more! cili bentuk bunga or daun pudina letak atas kuey teow tu takkan tak boleh, ye tak?

and the only decor they plopped on the dessert was cut-up strawberries. for all the dessert! and it's not even fashionably placed. susun lah bentuk pelangi ke, rama-rama ke. ha ha. get a new creative team, people!


next - dessert, anyone?

we ordered a banana beignets (pronounced bey-yay - the french word for 'fritter') with mango syrup and vanilla ice-cream - which is actually goreng pisang dua ketul and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. saje je buh nama beignets tu! also crispy fried wontons with caramel ice-cream. and my personal favorite, the fried ice-cream.

back in shah alam, there's this briyani restaurant we love which also serves ice-cream goreng. it's our must-eat dessert! it has a crunchy bread-like exterior, with the ice-cream inside. the fried ice-cream at the noodle house has the same concept, but it looks much more appealing! thin strands of crunch enveloped the exterior, giving it a rambutan look - with the ice-cream inside. cute!

(taken from fida's fb)

then it's time to call it a night. let's take a group photo for kak maherah to remember us by! so long, sis. may your journey to the land of the taj mahal brings you more interesting experiences, new-found friends and a wonderful life ahead.

good luck and bon voyage!

p/s : thank you kak sarah for dropping me off after the ladies night out. :)

* * *

speaking of saying thanks, my gratitude goes to mr. khairul - my hero, my cook, my nanny and bibik for the night. i came home to three boys sleeping all over the place - kahfi on the couch, mr. khairul lepaking on the carpet with the big pillow tucked behind his back against the sofa, and khaleef sprawling by his side.

sigh. a sight that makes life worth living. i wasn't even complaining as i noticed traces of kulit kacang pistachio and crumbs on the carpet...

you did great, honey and thanks again for the time-out - boleh la i klua selalu, eh? *wink*